An Se-young Advances to Semifinals at Asian Championships; Final Step Toward Completing Grand Slam

Badminton’s reigning queen An Se-young (24, Samsung Life) continues her quest to achieve a grand slam at the 2026 Asian Badminton Championships. The world’s number one player defeated Nguyen Thuy Linh (Vietnam, world No. 21) in the round of 16 on the 9th, and then overcame Japan’s Tomoka Miyazaki (world No. 9) in the semifinals on the 10th, bringing her closer to conquering her last major tournament goal.

On the 9th (Korean time), An Se-young crushed Nguyen Thuy Linh 2-0 (21-7, 21-6) in just 30 minutes at the Ningbo Olympic Sports Center in China during the round of 16. The previous day on the 8th, she had already secured a consecutive two-match victory by beating Yeo Ji-min (Singapore, world No. 32) 2-0 (21-15, 21-10) in the round of 32. In the semifinals on the 10th, An Se-young faced Tomoka Miyazaki. Miyazaki had reached the semifinals by defeating Unanti Hooda (India) 2-0 (21-17, 21-9) in her previous match. An Se-young again prevailed over Miyazaki 2-0 (21-10, 21-10).

This tournament serves as An Se-young’s final hurdle to complete her grand slam. A grand slam is achieved when a player wins all four major badminton events: the World Championships, the Olympics, the Asian Games, and the Asian Championships. An Se-young has already won the 2023 Denmark World Championships, the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, and the 2024 Paris Olympics. Winning only the Asian Championships will complete her grand slam.

However, the Asian Championships have not been favorable for An Se-young in the past. She suffered a comeback loss to Wang Zhi (China) in the semifinals at the 2022 Manila tournament, finished as runner-up to Tai Tzu-ying (Taiwan) in the final of the 2023 Dubai tournament, and was eliminated by He Bingjiao in the semifinals at the 2024 Ningbo tournament.

The Asian Badminton Championships is a major event on par with the Super 1000 tournaments, which are the highest tier events on the BWF World Tour. Among the finalists in the women’s singles category this time are Japanese players Akane Yamaguchi, Nozomi Okuhara, Riko Kuni, and Tomoka Miyazaki, highlighting the strength of Japanese badminton.